USOO6536306B1 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 6,536,306 B1 Harris (45) Date of Patent: Mar. 25, 2003 
 (54) CORKSCREW WITH INTEGRAL 6,000,845. A * 12/1999 Tymkewicz et al. ........ 374/155 INTELLIGENT THERMOMETER 6,158,227 A * 12/2000 Seeley ........................... 62/56 2001/004O911 A1 11/2001 Rubenstein (76) Inventor: Debra Fogel Harris, 9366 Aegean Dr., OTHER PUBLICATIONS Boca Raton, FL (US) 33431 Instructions from the device in the Rubenstein application (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this (Cite 1) p. 2 lists requirement that the probe cannot touch the patent is extended or adjusted under 35 bottle. U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. * cited by examiner (21) Appl. No.: 09/649,119 Primary Examiner James G. Smith (22) Filed: Aug. 28, 2000 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm John C. Smith (51) Int. Cl." .................................................. B67B 7/44 (57) ABSTRACT (52) U.S. Cl. ......................................... 81/3.09; 374/155 An intelligent cork Screw device which determines the (58) Field of Search ................................. 81/3.09, 3.36, temperature of the bottle and informs the consumer as to 81/3.29, 3.45; 374/159, 155; 116/216 what type of wine is Suitable for that temperature. In a preferred embodiment, the cork Screw provides a tempera (56) References Cited ture readout. Alternative embodiments include temperature gauges which are marked to indicate the wines which are U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS appropriate for that temperature. Other alternative embodi 4,538,926 A 9/1985 Chretien ..................... 374/150 ments provide entertainment features Such as Voice or other 4,878,588 A 11/1989 Ephraim .................... 215/11.2 audio indications related to the temperature. Still other 4.919,983 A 4/1990 Fremin ...................... 428/35.7 embodiments include Visual indication Such as lamps which 4,962.765 A * 10/1990 Kung et al. ... ... 374/155 indicate what type of wine would be proper for the tem 5,482,373 A 1/1996 Hutchinson ... ... 374/141 perature of the bottle being measured. The cork Screw can 5,553,941. A 9/1996 Cope ............ ... 374/150 use thermal measurement of the exterior of the wine bottle, 5,720,555 A 2/1998 Elele ............ ... 374/150 5,738.442 A 4/1998 Paron et al. ................ 374/162 or alternatively, the actual Screw which penetrates the wine D404491 s 1/1999 Scott. D24/107 cork can be used as a temperature probe. 5,983,783 A * 11/1999 Archard et al. ... ... 374/155 5.997,927. A 12/1999 Gics ........................... 426/383 27 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets